Packing With Purpose: How REUZE is Reinventing the Way We Move 

Moving homes requires more than hauling furniture from one place to another. It’s an act that leaves behind large quantities of cardboard boxes, styrofoam packing peanuts and plastic packaging tape. 

Since these materials can negatively impact the environment if discarded in landfills, sustainable moving company REUZE is working to protect the environment by replacing single-use packing materials with reusable alternatives. 

Founded in 2022, REUZE offers clients in the Washington Metropolitan Area a wide variety of environmentally friendly products to rent when moving from one home to another. From reusable and spacious moving containers and clothing bags, to biodegradable bubble wrap, packing peanuts and tape, this small business is adamantly trying to change the moving process by reducing the amount of waste generated. 

“When we talk about the environment, it can be a little intimidating personally, because if you’re not doing everything right, it can be overwhelming,” co-founder Narissa Heggs told The Informer. 

Heggs started becoming more environmentally conscious approximately 15 years ago after realizing she needed to play a part in ensuring future generations have access to a clean Earth. 

After moving a few times, Heggs and her husband felt guilty about the amount of cardboard and plastic they disposed of, knowing that such waste could harm the environment. 

“That was kind of where the concept came from,” Heggs continued. “If you did nothing good all year for the environment, at least you’re doing this [and] moving sustainably, right?”

REUZE has a plethora of packages available for its customers, containing different amounts of reusable boxes that can accommodate homes of many sizes. When a client wants to move, they can order their preferred package online, and the moving company will deliver the containers. When finished unpacking the boxes in their new home, REUZE will pick up the supplies, then sanitize and quarantine them to prepare for the next customer. 

Meghan Johnson, who utilized REUZE’s services in 2023 when she suddenly had to move homes, said she was relieved and satisfied by how the company made packing supplies accessible, mitigating the stress of her situation. 

“Meeting owner Narissa was truly divine timing,” Johnson said. “The peace of mind is worth it, [but] the boxes themselves are of high quality and honestly were the best part of the moving process.”  

The Case for Greener Moving Practices 

Research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that in 2019, approximately 110 million metric tons of paper and cardboard were thrown away across the United States, with 56% of that waste ending up in landfills. Although cardboard is biodegradable, the lack of oxygen in landfills causes it to decompose anaerobically, releasing methane and contributing to global warming in the process. 

“Paper and cardboard waste constitutes about a quarter of municipal solid waste,” wrote the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), which funded the NREL’s research. “Fortunately, this category of waste is amenable to strategies– including reuse, recycling and composting– that can mitigate the drawbacks of landfilling.” 

Although reusing other people’s cardboard boxes may seem like the ideal alternative to combating waste generation when moving homes, Heggs strongly advises against it, as they may be more susceptible to harboring unwanted bacteria and insects, including bed bugs and cockroaches.

According to a case report by Eduardo P. Dolhun and Andrew W. Antes, published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, corrugated cardboard could increase the risk of infection by insects, as its multiple ridges and grooves can harbor and transfer small arthropods from home to home. 

“Adult triatomes may seek out shelter within larger corrugations or small tears or defects of a box, whereas the younger, soft-bodied nymphs and eggs themselves may be able to reside within the smallest of corrugations found in commercial shipping and storage boxes, as has been observed in several other insect species,” Dolhun and Antes wrote. 

Concerns like these reinforce the importance of utilizing more environmentally safe packing products and reimagining what those supplies can look like. 

To reduce cardboard waste, REUZE boxes are 50% recycled materials and 50% plastic. While reusable boxes are not unheard of among various moving companies, Heggs prides her company’s commitment to sustainability, shown by the various biodegradable and eco-friendly products it offers. 

“Our competitors have the reusable boxes, but they’re still selling plastic wrap on the side,” Heggs told The Informer. “So for us, we wanted to be very intentional not to have those types of products.” 

Materials like bubble wrap, packaging tape and styrofoam packing peanuts are not biodegradable or recyclable like cardboard. When dumped in a landfill, these materials can take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to decompose and can release methane gas into the atmosphere. 

According to a 2023 report by Roland Berger for the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, global plastic consumption has increased in tandem with the worldwide gross domestic product. Per the report, approximately 460 million tonnes of various plastics are introduced into the market annually, with about 360 million tonnes of plastic waste generated worldwide. 

“This surge in plastic waste poses a significant global environmental challenge, given that 70% of this waste remains uncollected, leaks into the environment, is dumped in landfills or openly burned,” Berger wrote. “In North America, roughly 75% of plastic waste is landfilled and 5% recycled.” 

Hopes for the Future of REUZE

Heggs hopes to implement more alternative packaging into REUZE’s products in the future to help mitigate plastic use and waste. One of the replacements she’s interested in is mycelium, which is the durable and fast-growing root structure of fungi. 

The REUZE co-founder also wants to combat electronic waste. 

According to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), a record-breaking 62 million tonnes of e-waste– any scrapped product containing a battery or plug– were produced worldwide in 2022. She hopes to introduce an e-recycling initiative that encourages residents who are moving homes to donate unwanted electronics. 

With the company’s current and future resources, Heggs has faith that REUZE will help people be more environmentally conscious in their everyday lives. 

“Thinking about how you’re moving could be that thing to kind of change the trajectory of the things you do,” Heggs told The Informer. “Do I get it right every time? No, I hate those paper straws… but if you make things more accessible to consumers, to people, then they’re more inclined to want to do something.”